Jack ‘N’ Hat

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

Jack ‘N’ Hat is a Platformer released on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2022. This game has players taking the role of a ballcap-wearing laborer recruited to rescue a princess. Er… no, not that one.

This game makes use of an appealing retro-style presentation that uses 16-bit-style 2D pixel art visuals with a look similar to the Mega Man franchise. These visuals are joined by a catchy chiptune soundtrack.

When it comes to the gameplay, there’s nothing especially interesting going on here – this is a pretty bog-standard Platformer, albeit with the twist that your character can toss his hat to attack enemies and breakable blocks. Unfortunately, the hat-throwing mechanic is finicky – it doesn’t work if used right as you’re landing, or if you’re ducking. As a result, this game feels stiff and this gameplay issue adds a frustrating element to play. In addition to this, the game’s overall design is somewhat frustrating – the game has unforgiving one-hit kills with too far-apart checkpoints.

Jack ‘N’ Hat still manages to deliver a baseline of enjoyment within the Platforming genre, but it doesn’t do much more than that. The appealing presentation can only go so far to cover for the frustrating gameplay issues, and in any case, this game does little to stand out in a genre that the Nintendo Switch has in abundance. Get another game instead.

tl;dr – Jack ‘N’ Hat is a Platformer with a protagonist who attacks enemies by throwing his hat. The presentation here is delightfully old-school, but the game itself isn’t particularly noteworthy, and even suffers from some frustrating elements, like stiff controls and tedious level design. It’s not terrible, but you have better options on the Nintendo Switch.

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Talissa, Eli Goodman, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Ilya Zverev, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}